Test: Class 7 History NCERT Based- 1 - UPSC MCQ

In the medieval period, a person who was unknown to the village and was not part of the society was termed as a foreigner or Videshi in Hindi. However, the term did not include people living in the same village even if they belonged to different religions or casters.

The term Hindustan was used by the chronicler Minhaj-i-Siraj to denote the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. The terms were used in political sense to describe the lands which were part of the Delhi Sultanate, but never included South India.

The Rajputs were among the main communities whose importance grew in the medieval period. The term was used not just for rulers and chieftains, but also included the soldiers and commanders of armies.

The three dynasties - Gurjara-Pratihara, Rashtrakuta and Pala dynasty fought over controlling the Kannauj region due to its fertility and resourcefulness. Kannauj was a strategically important area with the resourceful Ganga basin.

The Tripartite Struggle for control of northern India took place in the ninth century.

Chola temples often became the nuclei of settlements which grew around them. These were centres of craft production. They were not only places of worship, they were the hub of economic, social and cultural life as well.

Vetti and Kadamai were taxes that were imposed during the Chola period. Vetti means forced labour under which peasants were forced to work for the king or their village landlords for free.

Rajatarangini (Rājataraṃgiṇī, "The River of Kings") is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western Indian subcontinent, particularly the kings of Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE. The work consists of 7826 verses, which are divided into eight books called Tarangas ("waves").

The Rajataringini provides the earliest source on Kashmir that can be labeled as a "historical" text on this region. Although inaccurate in its chronology, the book still provides an invaluable source of information about early Kashmir and its neighbours in the north western parts of the Indian subcontinent, and has been widely referenced by later historians and ethnographers..

Sultan Mahmud Ghazni was interested in finding out more about the people he had conquered and entrusted a scholar named Al-Biruni to write an account of the subcontinent. This Arabic work, known as ‘Kitab ul-Hind’ remains an important source of information for historians. He consulted Sanskrit scholars to prepare this account.

Cholas were Subordinates of Pallavas. Rajendra Pradhan, the ruler of Chola dynasty, had built a vast navy for the expansion and protection of its empire from the countries of Ganga, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia and had converted the Bay of Bengal into Chola Lake.

The Khilji Dynasty – 1290-1320 ruled for the shortest time. The Khalji or Khilji dynasty was a Muslim dynasty which ruled large parts of the Indian subcontinent between 1290 and 1320. It was founded by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji and became the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate of India. The dynasty is known for their faithlessness and ferocity, conquests into the Hindu south,and for successfully fending off the repeated Mongol invasions of India.

During Namaz, Muslims stand on the side of Mecca. The direction towards Mecca is called 'Qibla'.

Bandagan is a Persian term used for special slaves who are purchased for military service. They were carefully trained to man some of the most important political offices in the kingdom. Because they were totally dependent on their master, the Sultan could trust and rely on them.

Ibn Battuta came to India in the 14th century, from the African country of Morocco.

Ibn Battuta was a Muslim Berber Moroccan scholar, and explorer who widely travelled the medieval world. Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the Islamic world and many non-Muslim lands, including Central Asia, Southeast Asia, India and China. Near the end of his life, he dictated an account of his journeys, titled A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling. He travelled more than any other explorer in distance, totaling around 117,000 km.

Sher Khan had defeated Humayun in the battle of Chausa in 1539 and after the war Sher Khan declared himself Sultan and assumed the title of 'Sher Shah'. He took control of Bengal and destroyed the power of the Mughals in the east, and reached Kannauj.

In the Battle of Kannauj Humayun was decisively defeated by Sher Shah. Sher Shah's control was established in Delhi and the foundation of the second Afghan empire was established.

Rani Rudrama Devi or Rudradeva Maharaja, sometimes spelled Rudramadevi or Rudrama-devi, was a monarch of the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan Plateau from 1263 until her death. She was one of the very few women to rule as monarchs in India and promoted a male image in order to do so.

Mughals were proud of the timurid dynasty because their great ancestor had captured Delhi in 1398. Their pride was celebrated by getting a picture made of timur with themselves. 
On 21st April 1526, Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat and quickly occupied Delhi 

Qutub Minar is a five-storey building, named after the famous Sufi Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. Construction of the first balcony of this building was done by Qutubuddin Aibak around 1199 and the remaining floors were constructed by Iltutmish.

The two bands of inscriptions under the balcony of Qutub Minar, are written in Arabic.

Sultan Iltutmish won universal respect for constructing a large reservoir just outside Delhi-i-kuhna. It was called the hauz-i-Sultani or the “King's Reservoir”.

The Red Fort is a historic fort in the city of Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift his capital from Agra to Delhi.

The most important improvement in Alauddin's economic reforms was "market control policy" which was mentioned by Barni in his book 'Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi'.

Maximum Mongol invasions took place during the reign of Alauddin Khilji, due to which Alauddin had to keep a large army. Allauddin started paying cash salaries to the soldiers instead of Iqta.

Akbar had constructed 'Ibadat khana' in Fatehpur Sikri.The Ibādat Khāna was a meeting house built in 1575 CE by the Mughal Emperor Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri to gather spiritual leaders of different religious grounds so as to conduct a discussion on the teachings of the respective religious leaders.

The beautiful and ornate specimens created by pressing colored concrete stones on the engraved (raised) marble or sandstone stones, behind the emperor’s throne were a series of pietra-dura inlays that depicted the legendary Greek god Orpheus playing the lute.
Pietra dura called parchin kari or parchin kari in the Indian Subcontinent, is a term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones to create images. It is considered a decorative art. The stonework, after the work is assembled loosely, is glued stone-by-stone to a substrate after having previously been "sliced and cut in different shape sections; and then assembled together so precisely that the contact between each section was practically invisible"

Bronze statues were made by using “lost wax” technique in the Chola era. First, an image was made of wax. This was covered with clay and allowed to dry. Next it was heated, and a tiny hole was made in the clay cover. The molten wax was drained out through this hole. Then molten metal was poured into the clay mould through the hole. Once the metal cooled and solidified, the clay cover was carefully removed, and the image was cleaned and polished.

Abul Fazl helped Akbar in framing a vision of governance around this idea of sulh-i kul. This principle of governance was followed by Jahangir and Shah Jahan as well.

While Akbar was at Fatehpur Sikri during the 1570s he started discussions on religion with the ulama, Brahmanas, Jesuit priests who were Roman Catholics, and Zoroastrians. These discussions took place in the ibadat khana. He was interested in the religion and social customs of different people. It made him realise that religious scholars who emphasised ritual and dogma were often bigots. 

Abul Fazl wrote a three volume history of Akbar’s reign titled, Akbar Nama. The first volume dealt with Akbar’s ancestors and the second volume recorded the events of Akbar’s reign. The third volume is the Ain-i Akbari. It deals with Akbar’s administration, household, army, the revenues and geography of his empire.

Brihadisvara temple was built by the Chola ruler Rajaraja on the east coast of Tamil Nadu in Thanjavur, which is situated in the fertile delta region of the Kaveri river. This temple is a wonderful example of Indian architecture and sculpture.

Gangaikonda-Cholapuram was the capital of the famous King of Chola Dynasty-Rajendra I. When his army crossed Kalinga it conquered the areas of Southern Kaushal, Bengal, Magadha and the areas extending to the Ganges. During the celebration of these conquests he assumed the title of "Gangaikonda" and established Gangaikonda-Cholapuram (town of Ganga-Vijaya Chola).